Thursday, August 6, 2026 · daily challenge
FreeCelldaily — August 6, 2026
- Time
- 0:00
- Moves
- 0
- Deal
- #154304
4 free cells · 0 empty columns · you can move 5 cards at once
About FreeCell
FreeCell is the thinking player's patience. All 52 cards are dealt face-up into eight columns at the start, so there is no luck left after the deal — no stock to turn, no cards to discover, nothing hidden. Everything you need to win is visible from the first second, which means every loss is a loss you can go back and understand. Paul Alfille wrote the first computer version in 1978 on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois, and Jim Horne's port for Windows, bundled from 1995 onwards, turned it into the second-most-played card game in the world.
What makes it endure is the ratio of simplicity to depth. There are only four extra rules on top of ordinary patience — four free cells that each hold exactly one card, any card may start an empty column, and you may only move one card at a time unless the game moves a run for you — and yet strong play looks nothing like weak play. A weak player fills the free cells in the first ten moves and then discovers there is no way back. A strong player treats each cell as a loan that has to be repaid.
The famous fact about FreeCell is that it is very nearly always winnable. Of Microsoft's original 32,000 numbered deals, exactly one — number 11982 — has been proven to have no solution, and in the extended range of one million deals only a handful are impossible. So when a FreeCell hand beats you, the honest verdict is that you played it wrong, and the interesting question is which move was the mistake. Undo exists here precisely so you can go and find it.
This implementation uses the original Microsoft shuffle, bit for bit, so the deal numbers match the ones every other FreeCell player and every published solver uses: deal #1 here is deal #1 everywhere. Tap a card to pick it up together with the run beneath it, tap a highlighted column, free cell or foundation to drop it; the game works out how many single moves that really takes and refuses the ones it cannot afford. Double-tap sends a card straight to its foundation, and once the hand is a formality an Auto-finish button appears and plays it out. Undo is unlimited, the clock pauses when the tab is hidden, and a refresh drops you back on exactly the same board.
How to play FreeCell
- 1All 52 cards are dealt face-up into eight columns — four columns of seven cards and four of six. Nothing is hidden and there is no stock.
- 2Build the four foundations up by suit from the ace to the king. All 52 cards on the foundations wins the hand.
- 3Build the tableau columns down in alternating colours: a black nine goes on a red ten, a red eight on a black nine.
- 4The four free cells at the top left each hold exactly one card of any rank. Use them to park a card that is in the way, and get it back out as soon as you can.
- 5Any single card — not just a king — can be moved into an empty column. Empty columns are the most powerful resource in the game.
- 6Strictly you may only move one card at a time, but the game will move a whole run for you when there is room to do it: you can shift (free cells + 1) x 2^(empty columns) cards at once, halved when you are moving into an empty column itself. Illegal runs simply will not go.
- 7Tap a card to select it and the run below it, then tap a highlighted destination. Double-tap sends a card to its foundation. Tap the selection again to cancel.
- 8Use Hint if you are stuck, Undo as often as you like, and Auto-finish once the remaining cards can all be banked.
FreeCell strategy
- Count your free cells before you commit to anything. A run of four cards needs three empty cells or two cells plus an empty column. Work the arithmetic out before you start the sequence, not halfway through it — a move you cannot finish leaves cards stranded in cells and that is how hands are lost.
- Open a column early. An empty column is worth more than a free cell, because it doubles the size of run you can shift and it can take any card, not just a king. The shortest column at the deal is usually the one to attack, and it is worth spending two or three cells to get there.
- Plan the whole sequence, then execute it. FreeCell rewards looking five or six moves ahead in a way that Klondike does not, because nothing is hidden and nothing is random — if you can see the plan working, it will work. Trace it to the end before you touch the first card.
- Dig the aces out early, but do not chase the higher cards up. Getting aces and twos onto the foundations costs nothing. Sending a nine up when the opposite-colour eights are still buried removes a landing spot you were going to need.
- Keep at least one cell empty as long as you can. The difference between one free cell and none is the difference between a game and a wall: with zero cells and zero empty columns you can only move single cards onto exact matches, and most positions have none.
- Watch for cards buried under their own suit. A four sitting directly on top of a three of the same suit is a small disaster in waiting, because the three cannot go up until the four does, and the four cannot go up until the two does. Spot those stacks at the deal and plan to break them first.
- When a hand stalls, undo back to the last move where you had a free cell in hand, not to the deal. FreeCell mistakes are almost always a single premature commitment, and finding it is more useful than starting again.
FreeCell daily challenge
One shared deal a day, the same for everyone. Win it and your streak goes up.
FreeCell — common questions
Is every FreeCell deal winnable?
Almost. Of Microsoft's original 32,000 numbered deals, exactly one is impossible: number 11982. Across the extended one-million-deal range only eight have been proven unsolvable. In practice you should assume every hand you are dealt can be won, which is what makes FreeCell such an unusually fair patience game.
Why does deal 11982 have no solution?
There is no single elegant reason — it is simply a layout where every line of play runs out of free cells before it can free an ace. It was found by brute force: exhaustive solvers were run over all 32,000 Microsoft deals and 11982 was the only board none of them could crack, a result independently confirmed by at least eight different programs. It has become a sort of folk landmark among FreeCell players, and you can deal it here if you want to see it for yourself.
Do your deal numbers match the ones I know from Windows FreeCell?
Yes. We implement the original Microsoft linear congruential shuffle exactly, so deal #617, deal #11982 and every other number produce the same board here that they do in Windows FreeCell, FreeCell Pro and the published solver archives. Deal #1 starts JD 2D 9H JC 5D 7H, which is the standard reference layout.
How many cards can I move at once?
As many as your free cells and empty columns can carry: (free cells + 1) multiplied by 2 to the power of the number of empty columns. With two free cells and one empty column that is six cards. If the column you are moving into is itself the empty one, the figure halves — you cannot use a space as scratch and as the destination at the same time. The game does the arithmetic for you and only highlights moves you can actually afford.
What is the difference between FreeCell and Klondike solitaire?
Klondike hides twenty-one cards face-down and holds another twenty-four in a stock, so you are playing with incomplete information and a good chunk of luck. FreeCell shows you everything at the deal and gives you four cells instead of a stock. That makes FreeCell far more winnable but far less forgiving: there is no bad luck to blame.
Can I put any card in an empty column?
Yes, unlike Klondike where an empty column takes only a king. That is why empty columns are so valuable in FreeCell, and why creating one is usually the correct medium-term plan even at the cost of tying up two or three free cells to do it.
Does undo count against me?
Not at all. There is no scoring, no penalty and nothing is uploaded — the timer and the move count are there for your own curiosity and the share line. Undoing your way back through a lost hand until you find the losing move is the single fastest way to get better at FreeCell.